Five Immortal Hearts

by Savannah Rose

  “We need to get there Quinn,” I said.

  “Do we? Even if Marchosias is a Sleeper, and this is only a portion of him in action, he’s powerful. Far more powerful than I am, although I don’t believe he can summon his horde in this form. With that said, I care more about you living than whether or not you wish to speak to me again.”

  From the West a red star appeared in the skies, moving fast across the sky as a meteor might. From the North, a blue one was descending at an even greater speed.

  “Would you feel the same if I was Inanna?” I asked.

  His expression appeared sour, but he made it clear that he wouldn’t.

  “She’s mortal too, isn’t she?” I pushed.

  “Yes,” he admitted.

  “Then make sure we’re there before your brothers arrive. I don’t want those dog men ruining my dinner.”

  He growled, to show he wasn’t happy about this, but he also lost his hesitation, and the fury of his energy washed through me — it was better than sex to feel him like this.

  Dog Men Battle

  There were eight of them outside the door, waiting for us. I guessed they saw us turn around. The fact that a huge green and red dragon was descending on them from the Japanese hells, didn’t impress them at all. Four aimed their guns, and the others drew out sabers. Were they priests? Quinn said Marchosias would not be able to summon his demons — so were these puppets just like the ones back in Mexico City? It would make sense.

  Just before I could ask if there was a way to spare them, we flew into the oppressive presence of Marchosias. We didn’t feel that inside the chapel however, only outside. Looking up, it didn’t take long to find the black spot in the night, darker than black, a pit inside the heavens. So the chapel, for whatever reason, was blocking the massive controlling power of Marchosias.

  “I hear you,” Quinn said. “Not happy about killing off priests myself, especially innocent ones. I can blow open the doors, but I need them out of the way. Any ideas?”

  Just one, I thought, and launched eight of my drones, only this time I wasn’t going to be looking at pictures. I aimed each at the face of a priest. Through them, I could guide each.

  Quinn made a sudden turn, spiraling up and then down again, giving my drones time to reach their targets. None of the eight saw them coming until they were only feet away, and all of them hit the ground in a reflexive attempt to avoid the buzzing missiles. That’s when Quinn exhaled a hurricane and blew the doors of the chapel off their hinges.

  “I can fix that,” he said, as we landed, running for the opening.

  On my way past I picked up two of the guns. They were both 9mm like Raw had trained me with. I couldn’t shoot these men, but I could keep them from shooting us. Quinn agreed, and picked up the other two.

  “Do you know where the dinner was supposed to be held?” I asked Quinn as we ran through the Sistine Chapel.

  “Under, down several levels. There should be guards, but I’m wondering if they’re still alive or unchanged.”

  He ran past me to the far wall, and touched one of the eyes of what most people call Cherubs. Of course, these little babies with wings were not Cherubs. They weren’t even close to Cherubim. The Cherubim were ten feet tall with wings of flame.

  Just as the floor opened exposing a stairway down, the earth shook as two impacts hit the grounds outside. A storm of dirt and debris blew in through the open doors. The doors on this side of the chapel blew open, and Raw walked through. Mostly he looked like himself, but he still had his red wings and a tail, so he looked more demon than human, and seriously pissed off.

  “We think those priests are puppets, Raw. Please don’t hurt them if you don’t have to. The real threat is above, Marchosias is up there.” I called to him over the rumbling earth.

  “I saw him. It’s not Marchosias, but rather the one waking him. If he believes the animal in him is a match for the demon in me, he’s mistaken,” Raw told me, sounding unimpressed. “What are you doing?”

  “We’re going down to check on the religious leaders below.”

  Raw looked to Quinn. “Get them out, under the river. We’ll handle this side. Then get her out of here.”

  “Right,” Quinn said. “Let’s go darling. The quicker, the better for everyone.”

  The stairs were steep, nearly ladder steep. I sent three drones down into the pitch black with LED lights on high producing 1350 lumens, to find a landing, twenty feet square, holding four Swiss guards, armed with military weapons. A 100-watt bulb puts out 1500 lumen, by way of comparison. In the pitch black, that was more than enough. Also there were two other stairways, one behind them, and the other descending to the right.

  Quinn motioned for me to wait, and then held up a medallion for the guards to see. Using two more drones, I lit us up as well, so they could see us. Quinn moved down the stairs, holding up the medallion and talking to them in a calm tone. He explained that the attack was moved outside of the chapel and other forces were handling it, and they should not let anyone without a Holy See invitation get pass them, even if they were priests. Quinn motioned for me to come once they agreed, and we took the stairway to the right.

  His holiness wasn’t pleased that Quinn had a secret tunnel under the river and into the Sistine Chapel. Still, that didn’t keep him from using it to get to Quinn’s safe house with the others. He also wasn’t happy that his advice was no longer needed. No words were spoken to this effect, but I could tell he felt put out.

  Once in the safe house, a group of Swiss guards arrived in street clothing, carrying luggage bags filled with weapons. Any thought I had about them being around just for show vanished as I watched them set up.

  Quinn guided me into a room. “They’ll be fine from this point. The information is already known — there is no point in killing them now. And if we are right, and it is Marchosias, this is even more true.”

  From what I had gathered, what he said made sense. Marchosias wouldn’t think twice about killing all of them if there was a reason, but they weren’t important enough to him to kill for no reason.

  Looking to Quinn, I asked, “What’s a Sleeper?”

  Quinn crossed the room, opened a cabinet and took out a bottle of rum.

  “There are beings like Marchosias who have been around since creation, just like my brothers and me. They have their own paths, and some of them have long waits between being needed or aroused or even interested in what is going on in the world. Bored out of their minds after thousands of years of waiting, most of these have buried themselves into the earth, and go into a kind of hibernation state.”

  “They go to sleep?” I asked.

  He handed me a glass. “That’s what it is called, but it’s not sleep as you or even I experience it. Their minds are still active, and occasionally a part of them walks the earth, just to check things out. Some of them have portions of themselves out in the far reaches of space, searching creation for a calling. C-Source is using the sight and knowledge of the sleeper in order to gain more power within the Cartel in Mexico. He’ll eventually make his way into the government and won’t stop moving until he has all the power he cares to hold. There’s also the possibility that a mortal is the one in charge and he’s just following the mortal’s bidding.”

  “And we could find this mortal…”

  “We could end this without having to face him directly. He’ll show up to protect his summoner, I’m sure. But again, once the person is dead, we wouldn’t be important enough to him to continue to fight.”

  I didn’t like the idea of setting out to kill the summoner. I wasn’t a killer. But he was, whoever he was, so I kept my mouth shut on the topic. We needed to find him first.

  “Well Quinn, I guess we are going back to Mexico then,” I said with a small smile.

  “Just as well. Raw has a big night there tomorrow. Wouldn’t want to miss the show,” Quinn grinned.

  I thought about the vision I had, the numbers of the dead, and the large bundles of drug
s and money taken by Mexican and American forces. The newspaper headlines, with my name on the bi-line. Two days from now…

  “Tijuana then,” I said softly.

  “That’s where Raw is, right?”

  “Would you mind if I flew with you?” I asked.

  “You would probably enjoy being on my back this time,” he offered.

  “I’ll bring the bottle,” I said, picking up the bottle of rum, and my small backpack.

  ***

  In his dragon form, his head was wreathed with a mane of fur as fine as angel hair or baby’s breath. “This isn’t going to cut me is it?”

  “Hope not,” he said. “The only other who has ridden there was the goddess Inanna. I doubt anything could cut her.”

  “That must have been the original, right? Why do you call us all Inanna? And how many of us have there been?”

  “Over four hundred. Inanna was our first. We had been here for about ten thousand years before then, and it would be another five thousand before Sumer came into being. She was young, for a goddess, but already strong. Already the Queen of Heaven. Raw approached her with his idea. She saw the wisdom in it, and agreed to choose every five hundred years, who the Dragon of the Age would be. Many years later she came to us. She said it was her idea, but I’m still sure it was Enki’s, to use human women. Her argument was it was the human’s world, and our Ages affected humans. It should be a human who chose. Her family was focused on Sumer, and she had her own needs to fulfill. Creating a namsub with Enki, she put into the world a strand of her DNA, which ran through the races — and every two hundred years or so, an Inanna is born, and we are aware of her.”

  “You knew when I was born?” I asked him.

  “Give or take a few years, sure,” he answered.

  With a curling swish of his body he left the ground, heading West across the sea to the Atlantic. With me on his shoulders.

  I was riding a dragon!

  TJ

  Limited by the speed I could endure, we descended from the skies into Tijuana three hours later. I’m sure having my bond-mage connection to Raw, and Kane allowed that speed. A plane flight would have taken at least thirteen hours. Wearing the suit helped as well. It made the journey comfortable.

  Conversation was light. Mainly because my head was busy with the idea that I was riding a dragon across the world – and that thought just never got old. I didn’t need the rum, I was giddy the entire trip.

  We landed on a balcony, with Quinn changing as we spiraled down. His energy flowed like a storm, and I felt him everywhere. Lightning cracked and thunder rolled. Then he was beside me, and I put my arms around his neck and kissed him.

  “That was amazing,” I said. “I can’t think of anything that could compare.”

  “There are things, I’m sure, and I hope you find them some day,” he answered.

  “You sound sad, what’s going on?”

  “I have to leave you. I need to go back and have that discussion with those men and women we left back in Rome.”

  “Now? You’re leaving me now?” I asked, my heart filling with emptiness.

  “It can’t wait. I’ll try to return as soon as I can. But Ore is on his way. He’ll likely arrive today sometime. Though his time was to begin tomorrow.”

  “This isn’t fair,” I complained.

  “Tell me something that is, and I’ll have that conversation with you,” he smiled.

  Nothing came except tears. “Can’t we talk for a while before you go?”

  “We can talk on my way back. You are connected to me as a bond-mage. I can feel it. Just relax, clear your mind – and hear my words inside you…

  I did hear his words, and the feeling was effervescent, bubbly, and I laughed despite my tears.

  Closing my eyes, I felt for him and found him inside me, connected. “Can I do this with all of you?” I asked, inside my head.

  “If the other is agreeable to the connection, yes,” he answered me through our connection.

  “And I can connect to you across the world?” I asked.

  “Yes, anywhere. Even if I were on the moon, or Mars or on a moon of Jupiter, like Io. Anywhere.”

  “There’s no limit?” I asked.

  I felt him pause, and then he said, “I’ve never been past Io, so I don’t know. But I’m sure there is some limitation.”

  He wrapped me up in his arms and kissed me. His hands on my ass felt wonderful. My whole body ached for him, wanted him – it was still unfair, no matter what he said.

  “I have to go,” he whispered. Then he stepped back, his body shifted, light and power swirled around him, and then as a green and red streak he was soaring up, toward the moon, at hundreds of miles an hour. There he stopped, for the briefest moment, and then streaked East like a comet.

  I left the door to the balcony open, and inside I filled a tall glass with ice and rum. As I did, I noticed my ring from him was still on my finger. That was good, because I was still his. I hoped he would return. That he would find a way to reschedule the meeting, and come back to me.

  “That would be at least seven hours from now,” his voice told me, inside my mind.

  “So?”

  “You’ll be asleep,” he pointed out.

  “I’ll be in bed, nude, and waiting, dreaming that you will wake me,” I told him.

  “Now that’s a visual I’ll hold dear forever,” he said.

  “Where are you now?” I asked.

  “Just reached the Gulf of Mexico. I’ll be over that oil rig that is still leaking, soon. They really should do something about that.”

  “Yes they should, and that other bitch who hasn’t done a thing for more than ten years with her leaking crude oil into the gulf,” I said, with a venomous tone.

  “That sounds personal.”

  “Well, it is a bit. I’ve written two stories on the issue, and still it exists. Still she is not fined or forced to fix it, and still living well with her millions. Makes me sick!”

  “But not sick enough to waste any more time on it since time with you is so short.”

  Ore ~ The Discovery Lord

  Ore and his Eyes

  When I woke, Quinn was still gone. So was the ring I wore briefly with him. I missed him. Flying with him was an amazing adventure. Feeling his energy. The warmth of his mane around me. Nothing could be better.

  Four men have come and gone; four dragons have offered themselves. To be honest if I had to choose one from the four this instant, I’d be fucked.

  It wasn’t that I lacked a preference for the influence — the Age one would bring over the world. I had a strong preference in fact. But I knew enough about myself to know that this choice of Age would not be based on the value of my preference, but rather on my fear of the other three. My choice would be to make sure the other three were not chosen.

  The trouble with this was each of the Ages in question were double edges. Depending on which area of history you looked at, and from which point of view, each of these Ages were the core of great things, and also ages of deep evil.

  Each of them excited me, extended me, created in me something new that was more than just me-with-him. Something unexpected and unique.

  Ore would be the fifth then, and the last. He felt the strongest. He had the feel of certainty about him, yet tempered with humility. This trait belied his choice in body — looking like a teen-ager. His eyes were blue, like his brothers, but calming, and alluring — like the blue light of a bug zapper.

  Yes, there was no doubt in me that he was dangerous.

  I scrubbed my skin pink under the shower’s hot water and steam. Spent over a half hour brushing out my hair, while waiting for breakfast. Put on light makeup, a new t-shirt and fresh Levis. Thinking of Rome, I almost called Quinn to see if he could arrange a similar set of clothing which could also change into the battle suit Raw designed for me — but it was no longer their time. It was Ore’s time, and I felt it was his time even though he had not shown up yet.

  No
thing attracted me in Tijuana. It was a border town and across the globe, most border towns were the same. Didn’t matter the border or the country on the other side. People wanted out, people wanted in, and then there were the people who didn’t want the others doing either action. This caused a barrier which built up frustration and fear. However, this was where the Cortez Cartel lived — the place they called home. The place Raw would be causing havoc tonight. From what I read of the article I would write late tonight, Raw would be involved in some serious calamity, carnage, and devastation. He once told me he ended wars, he didn’t start them.

  The suite I was in lay on the top floor and took up a third of the floor space. Two other suites were up here, but this one was at least 3000 feet. Three rooms, a massive living area, a kitchen, three bathrooms and a huge balcony. What I enjoyed most was that it felt lived in, not all glitz and shine, but comfortable. I could relax here. Being in jeans and running shoes didn’t bother me at all.

  Out in the living-room area, on the couch I found the suit that Raw had made for me, folded and ready for action. A thought motivated me to take one of the drones off the spine column they were hooked to and examine it closer — looking for some kind of connection. I found an opening which looked like my phone charger port. Taking it to my laptop, I hooked it up, like I would my phone, and opened the drive that appeared on my computer. Several video files were in this one. All of them from Baja, where Raw was training me to use this suit.

  In a short time, I found myself smiling and missing him. Catching myself I shut down the videos, and deleted them from the drive. Then I went through the rest of them, cleaning them out, making sure they had all the room they could for tonight. I stashed a couple in a secure drive, being unable to delete them.